Companies go the extra mile to save its employees from toxic air

Pollution levels shot up to the ‘severe’ level – the highest – starting Monday evening in most parts of New Delhi and its suburbs.

NEW DELHI: As filmmaker Rikhil Bahadur drove from Noida to Gurgaon on Thursday for an unavoidable meeting, he put on his new antipollution mask. In the car, even with the windows sealed shut, the mask’s filter blackened within 15 minutes.

Bahadur is one of the millions of people in the National Capital Region who have been suffering from stifling levels of smog that has enveloped the region since early this week. Pollution levels shot up to the ‘severe’ level – the highest – starting Monday evening in most parts of New Delhi and its suburbs.

While government authorities are trying to implement measures to tackle pollution levels that are as much as 15 times the safe limit, some of India Inc.’s offices across the region are going the extra mile to minimise the impact on their employees and make them feel healthier by installing air purifiers, distributing masks and allowing them to work from home.

Travel company MakeMyTrip has reinforced its workfrom-home facility for its employees. Samsung Electronics has installed over 100 air purifiers in its Gurgaon office. Yatra is encouraging employees to use up their 12 allotted work-from-home days.

GSK Consumer Healthcare is providing pollution masks to its sales team. While the air quality in One Horizon Center in Gurgaon, where its office is located, is already within the safe level, the company is installing an advanced electronic filter system on a trial basis.

It the air quality improves further, these systems will be installed on a permanent basis on both its floors. PolicyBazaar declared Thursday and Friday as ‘No Driving Days’ for its employees.

Bharti Airtel recently installed filter units to significantly improve the indoor air quality in its building. Online marketplace ShopClues’s HR head, Babu Vittal, told ET that the company is issuing health advisories on a regular basis. “There needs to be a long-term solution as every individual has the right to breathe. We will conduct regular health camps in our premises to ascertain the impact of pollution,” he said.

Sanofi has shared travel and health advisories for its employees in the region and is giving ‘N 100’ masks to each employee, according to its spokesperson.

The sharp increase in air pollution has been attributed to a range of causes, including vehicular and industrial emissions, dust from roads and construction work and burning of crop stubble in the neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab.

HUMAN RESOURCE
Rajeev Bhardwaj, VP of HR at Sun Life Financial Asia Service Center, said it is critical to realise that a healthy employee is an asset to the company and taking such measures will go a long way.

However, one employee of a big company who did not wish to be identified, said, “Companies aren’t doing enough. We haven’t got any advisory despite the gravity of the situation. People are being asked to come to work and are returning home, unwell,” she said. Paytm is offering employees the flexibility to work from home and in particular, expectant mothers within the workforce are being strongly advised to do so.

US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly said it is financially supporting its field employees to maintain and service their vehicles regularly so that they can contribute to reducing emission and air pollution.

The Delhi government plans to implement vehicle rationing, known as the odd-even plan, for five days starting November 13 in a bid to curb pollution.

Dr Oetker India has installed an air purifier system at its head office where about 50 employees work. It has placed an order for N95 masks and will be distributing them to the sales team, which is always outdoors and suffers the most. PNB Metlife is encouraging employees to car-pool and is helping them map colleagues who live near each other.